The soil used in the experiment will come from Peru’s Pampas de La Joya desert, which is similar to the soil found on Mars, according to CNBC.

Extraterrestrial farming could help feed future space colonies as well as provide nutritious food to those in famine-stricken areas on Earth. Scientists expect that due to the high levels of carbon dioxide on Mars, potato crops could yield up to four times as much as a typical Earth-grown crop.

We want to put potatoes on Mars and we've got NASA helping us do it! Today we announce a research project to show that a...